In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

I have a question for you.  I want to know how many of you woke up this morning and said, “I really, really, really want to be tested and challenged today!”  Really?  Nobody?

Okay.  I want to know, how many of you when you woke up this morning, said to yourself, “I really want to be uncomfortable today.  I hope I am in a situation I do not want to be in?”  Really, Nobody?

Okay.  I want to know, how many of you, when you woke up this morning, said to yourself, “I really hope all of my relationships today are on edge!  I really hope my relationships are on thin ice, and I hope that today I am in a place where I might not get along with people.”?  How many of you said that when you woke up this morning?  Really?  Nobody again?

Well, I am not surprised by your answers.  Why am I not surprised?  I am not surprised because nobody says these things!  People don’t wake up and say “Boy I hope I am challenged today.”  They just don’t.  I don’t wake up thinking that.  Nobody does.

Yet… our Gospel story is exactly that.  It is about the desert.  “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts”

Jesus is in the wilderness.  He is not in a fun place.  He is in a desolate and barren location, separated from other people and tempted by Satan.  Sounds pretty awful to me.  That would be the reason I asked the children “what is the worst place you can think of?”  Children have deserts too.

It’s pretty natural.  We don’t like to be in the desert.  We don’t like to be challenged.  I like to tell this story about how people don’t like to be challenged in the desert.

It was after the 2009 Churchwide assembly… remember?  That was the one that all of the fallout happened because the Churchwide assembly made it okay for committed gays and lesbians to become pastors?  Well, I was speaking to another congregation who was very split on the matter.  I used as a teaching scripture of how we are to function as a church, that we are called to “deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Jesus.”  I explained that taking up a cross is not a fun thing to do.  That life, especially life in an assembly of believers is difficult.  That our call is difficult.  A couple raised their hand and said, “You mean to tell me, that we are supposed to be uncomfortable?  That amidst our church in massive disagreement with people not speaking to each other, that we are called to be here?”  I said, “Yes.”  Now… notice I didn’t tell you which side they were on.  I didn’t even know.  What they expressed was how they really, really, really didn’t want to be challenged.  They didn’t want to be tempted.

So nobody wants to be challenged, and nobody really wants to be tempted.  Now, while this is natural, this is also problematic.

First, what kind of world do we actually live in?  Do we live in a world where there is nothing but hugs, and puppies and kitties, and comfort?  No.  We do not.  We live in a world that is challenging all over the place.

Second, challenge and temptation are how people grow.  We do not grow from hugs and comfort.  We grow from challenge, temptation, and hardship.  In other words, the desert is what makes us grow.  Hugs help us heal… they do not help us grow.

Now, this is not always comforting news to people.  Remember how we didn’t wake up this morning?

For how we do not like to be challenged, there is good news.  That’s how we get to the Gospel.  When Jesus was tempted in the desert, did Satan win?  No.  Satan didn’t.  It was Christ who was victorious.  It is we who are in turn, victorious through Christ.  So when we end up in places we do not want to be, it is Christ who was there, who was waited upon by the angels, who beat the devil.

A few months back one of the confirmation students said she was very afraid of the devil.  If there is one topic confirmation students love, it is the devil and Hell.  Well, what I did was I took all of the students into the sanctuary, and I had them take out the hymnals and we read the first two verses of a Mighty Fortress is our God.

“No strength of our can math his might.  We would be lost, rejected.  But now a champion comes to fight, Whom God himself elected.  You ask who this may be?  The Lord of hosts is he!  Christ Jesus mighty Lord, God’s only Son adored, He holds the field victorious.”

That is the answer to challenge.  That is the answer to the desert and the wilderness.  The answer isn’t comfort.  The answer is found in the victory found in Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.  Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

For the 3^rd week in a row… a healing story.  I cannot really use my sermon from last week.  If you remember last week’s sermon, it was “If I told you once, I told you twice.”  That is God trying to remind us of how much he loves us.  And we continue to forget it.  Well, I will be honest.  I have a bad cold right now, and I do not feel so much like preaching that Jesus heals us.  No.  I don’t feel like preaching that at all.  See, when I have a cold, when I am sick, I feel like I am an outcast, and that I should be banished to a house on the outside edges of town, so that nobody should come near me, lest they be at risk of catching the same bug I have.  Oh wait!  That is exactly what our text is about today!  The untouchable!  Those we cannot even be around!  Those who are so unclean, that we cannot even touch them.

The Gospel story today has a man with leprosy that came along and asked to be healed.  To be made clean.  And Jesus, defying the customs and laws of the time, touches him.  This was a no-no.  If Jesus touched this man, guess who else would have been made unclean?  Jesus would.  But Jesus touched him anyways and said, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”

Most of us fall right into the rules of not touching lepers.  We all do.  We just don’t know it.  I was thinking back this week about a story, and I remember once to when I was about 10 years old.  The grocery story my mom went to was a Piggly Wiggly store at the Town and Country Mall.  It wasn’t the nice mall, it was the mall with much fewer people.  I’d enjoy her grocery shopping because this meant I could run to Radio Shack.  A grocery store was hardly an exciting thing for me.  I didn’t like the grocery store.  But the Radio Shack – it had all sorts of electrical gadgets and gizmos.  It had the newest and coolest computers.  Yes… computers.  Some of the first.  For a ten year old… this was awesome.  Well, the normal routine happened.  My mom went to Piggly Wiggly and I went to Radio Shack to look at all of the electronics and coolness.  They had a computer there that for some reason looked really cool to me.  I was so entranced by this machine, I immediately went up to it and touched the keyboard.  Now, I was 10 years old and in a trance of wonder.  I didn’t see the two employees working at the computer next to it.  I didn’t hear them say “don’t touch that.”  Apparently, this 10 year old boy ended messing up their whole day’s work on this one computer.

Don’t touch that.  That is the rule we function by.  We might think we don’t follow it, but we do.  We might view others as people we cannot associate with – that is another form of “don’t touch that.”  In another congregation there were two families who followed the rule of “Don’t touch that” in a very profound manner.  They were families who lived right next to each other.  One family attended worship on the 1^st and 3^rd Sundays.  The other family attended worship on the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays.  They had some sort of fight.  They almost acted like a divorced couple.  They had worked out their arrangement so they wouldn’t ever have to see each other in worship.

Those others.  Those untouchable people.  Those others we cannot have a relationship with.  You know, we too might also be the untouchable ones in someone else’s eyes!  There might be people who do not want to associate with you!

That brings us to the Gospel.  Jesus touches the unclean.  He touches the leper.  He doesn’t function with a “don’t touch that “rule in his head.  Jesus touches the unclean.  And the unclean?  Who are they?  They are us.

Much like Ramsey said during the children’s sermon, water cleanses us.  Jesus touches us through the waters of baptism… just like Lizzie is being baptized today.

Jesus touches us through our faith.  Faith which isn’t because of anything we do.  It is purely a gift from God.  Given to us by the Holy Spirit, through baptism.

Since we have been made clean, and Jesus doesn’t shy away from touching us?  What are we to do?  We are to go and touch others.  Touch others with the love of Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The latest internet news meme is the battle between the Obama Administration’s new ruling on insurance plans carrying birth control pills with no co-pay and the resistance on the part of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  If you haven’t heard of this news, you are probably hiding underneath a rock.  Being underneath this rock is not a bad thing.  I would recommend you stay under there for your own well-being.

I am thankful for the opportunities that intersections between news/government/religion provide.  Since I am a Lutheran pastor, I often get asked about my take on these issues.  I do cherish the opportunity.  The only caveat is sometimes these items are so packed and loaded, it can be difficult to muddle through the anxiety without a position that is seen as black/white or either/or.  That is the nature of an anxious society I guess.

So what is my take on this one?  First, I am actually sympathetic with the Bishops.  I do not completely understand the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on birth control, but I am also not Roman Catholic.  I think there is some truth in what little bits I have read about it.  Pope Paul IV in 1968 wrote that birth control would lead to a general lowering of moral standards, a rise in infidelity, and illegitimacy, the reduction of women to objects used to satisfy men, and government coercion in reproductive matters.  Paul IV makes a good point, though I might not agree with the causality.  My own teaching on sex is that it shouldn’t be done outside of a loving relationship.  Marriage comes from love, not the other way around.  Sex outside of a loving relationship happens both with and without birth control, and inside and outside of marriage.  Second, I side with the Bishops even though my own theology on birth control is different from theirs.  Any arm of the church, whether it is a hospital or social service agency, Catholic or Protestant, is still an arm of the church.  To put this more succinctly, Catholic and Protestant Hospitals are healing ministries.  This view is falling by the way side, as social service agencies and hospitals are now more akin to non-profit businesses than arms of the church.  The church is coming to be seen widely by the American public as something someone does in a sanctuary on a Sunday, rather than something throughout the entire week.  Third, to me it doesn’t matter that 98% of Catholic women have used birth control.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a democracy.  I find it interesting that both Roman Catholics and non-Catholics alike attempt to apply the ideas of popular majority to what is acceptable and not acceptable from Rome.  While my own denomination is more open to popular decision-making, even our church is subject to this idea.  I would call it popular or folk theology.  And frankly, the idea is troubling.  If people do not want a church to offer a mirror for correction of how we live our lives, it is odd that they belong to a church.  Jesus is called a shepherd in scripture.  A shepherd caring for sheep loves them and watches over them.  Part of loving a flock (the role of the Church) is using the shepherd’s crook to bring the sheep back to safety when they wander off on their own.  Instead, most of contemporary America desires a church akin to Burger King or Frank Sinatra – “my way.”

Now, I do disagree with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops at the same time.  Where I disagree with the Bishops is their strategy.  Sometimes fighting is the quickest way to lose.  They would have been much wiser to cave and say “We are against this ruling that you are forcing upon us.  We will go along with it because we will respect the laws of the land, even though it goes against our teaching.  Furthermore, if you, United States Government feel you have the answers to all of these things that ail families, relationships, and health – go for it.  We think you will fail, but by all means, take over.  When people come broken and hurt from your decisions, we will care for them.”  When power gives up power, it becomes much more powerful.

When the church is persecuted (real persecution, not the meager stuff like this), it thrives.  I do pray for a time when this happens.  When this happens the power of Christ will really be shown through the Church.

Most of all, my take on all of this is it is just sad.  Folks all over are arguing about law – whether it by liberals or conservatives, church types or non-church types, and everyone in-between.  The arguing doesn’t stop at just a policy decision about birth control.  It will go on and next week there will be something else.  Arguing isn’t bad on its face.  What is bad is the separation that arises from it.  When we become separated from our neighbor, the Devil laughs.  The Devil is laughing a lot right now.

If the Devil is laughing, what is happening?  Resonating upon scripture about these and other societal anxieties this week, the scripture that came to me most was John 11:35 – “Jesus began to weep.”

I am currently making my way through the entire Peanuts Library.  I have quite a bit to go, as my reading list is fairly long.  I have loved Peanuts for quite some time.  A couple of years back I read the new biography on Charles Schulz.  I have found Peanuts to be full of biblical and religious themes.  This is no surprise.  One author/minister named Robert Short, found this to be so much the case he wrote three books on the Peanuts (you can see/order them by clicking here).  Every so often, I come across a gem.  This gem was from October 1st, 1977…

I think most people walk around much in the manner of Woodstock.  We were put on Earth to sing songs and make the world beautiful – we know this at the core of our being.  Scripture says this in so many words (see Genesis 2.28 – “dominion” means to care for).  Singing bird songs and making the earth beautiful is also akin to what the Prophet Micah (Micah 6.8) instructs us to do, “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

However, something happens along the way.  In Snoopy’s words, it is BB guns and slingshots.  No person walking this Earth is immune from the experience of BB guns and slingshots.  Last week I was going on my morning stroll and went to a couple of businesses and in my interactions with the workers, I discovered the employees had a rough day in both places I went.  Some BB’s had been shot their way.  If we listened to our modern news media and all of the anxiety that goes along with it, we would believe that all of this bullying is rampant and new.  But really, it is rather old.  BB guns and slingshots go back much further than our own lives.  BB guns and slingshots are probably as old as history itself.

Snoopy is right.  This is one of the worst bargains we have ever heard of.  I do think God knows this too.  That would be why God sent his Son… so the raw end of the bargain wasn’t ours.  I find most people do not want the solution to BB guns and slingshots that is in scripture.  What does Jesus recommend we do?  Take up the cross and follow him.  Taking up the cross is continuing to sing our songs amidst BB gun and slingshot fire.  Kind of makes you take a big gulp, doesn’t it?

So I say… keep singing your bird songs and make the Earth beautiful (go and do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with God).  And when the BB’s and rocks come flying at you, don’t be surprised.  Instead, welcome the BB’s and rocks with open arms.

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.  He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  And the whole city was gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”  He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”  And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

For today’s Gospel lesson, we are again faced with the story of Jesus casting out a demon.  Last week it was a man with an unclean spirit who came into the Synagogue.  This week they went to Peter’s house.  This is the place they left before.  Jesus goes ahead and heals her and she is fine and she starts feeding them all.  And who comes to the door?  All those who were sick and possessed with demons.  This isn’t just one person who is possessed like last week.  Jesus kind of ups the ante a bit.  Now it is quite a few people.  Now crowds of people are coming to him for healing.  So while last week we had an unclean spirit, this week, it just got a lot bigger.

So what is the reason that there would be stories of healing the possessed in a row?  One right after the other in the Gospel?  My sense is that it is there to drive home a point.  The story last week in Mark gave the lesson that Jesus heals those with demons.  This week, the next story, verses 21-29 says, “Listen, really, Jesus really heals those with demons.”

I do wonder, if sometimes God does a face palm.  If God shakes his head and thinks “just how many more times do I have to tell them what I do? Really, I heal people.  Don’t they get it?”

What are the first words in our passage from Isaiah?  “Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”

I like to quote “dadisms.”  Dads say unique things that only other dads say.  I know that most of you will be able to finish this one.  Dads say it.  “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.”  This is kind of what the prophet Isaiah is saying.  Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”

And what is the prophet Isaiah asking us about what we have not heard?  Isaiah is asking if we know about God’s love.  If we have heard about God’s love.  If we have been told about God’s love?  Have we not understood God’s love from the foundations of the earth?  This is exactly what Isaiah was talking about.  “He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless… but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.”  This is what God has done for us.  Have we not known about God’s love?  If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.

So… our sin?  Well, we all are sick and possessed with demons, and we just have a difficult time listening to the words of Isaiah.  No wonder Isaiah asks this question of us.  We’ve probably given him quite a few reasons to.  What has Isaiah seen in us that would have him ask such a question?

Now, I know I have frequently heard people speak of God’s unconditional love.  That God loves us unconditionally.  That God’s love is unconditional.  This is problematic.  Nowhere in scripture does it say that God’s love is unconditional.  And when I hear this, I cannot help but think that one of my faculty persons at the seminary, Dr. Ralph Klein used to say, “God’s love is very conditional.  There are firm conditions placed on it.”  The conditions that are placed on it are the instructions of Jesus.  Take up your cross and follow me.  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  Feed the poor.  Those are the conditions upon God’s love placed upon us.  Basically, Jesus was God’s way of saying “God loves you, now go act like you know this.”

So where does that bring us?  Most of us walk around, day-to-day, thinking we are well.  The demons that Jesus casts out of people… those are other people.  Well, it is us, in the pews and in the pulpits that sick and in need of healing.

And that brings us to the Gospel.  Jesus heals us.  We might not thing we need it, but we do.  We might not think we are possessed, but we are. And the Gospel on this day, is that Jesus takes the unclean and makes them clean.  Jesus casts out demons.

Note to Readers:  This Blog Post is alsomy February Article for the First English Lutheran Newsletter.

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Throughout most of February we will still be in Epiphany.  Epiphany is a “green season,” meaning the green paraments are put on the altar, the pulpit, and the lectern.  It is also called “ordinary time.”  Ordinary is a very fitting word for how most tend to view both Epiphany and Pentecost, the two ordinary times in the church year.  The times are anything but ordinary (none of our lives are ordinary).  However, something happens to us from day-to-day.  Our demeanors stiffen.  Our minds aren’t as eager or able to see how much God has done for us.  Most days end up running together.  Well, Epiphany is anything but ordinary.  It is the time when we Jesus was made manifest.  It is the time when a light shines… and people see it.

I was sitting and talking with some from First English who were thinking about what to put up on the bulletin board in the narthex.  I mentioned the idea that since it is Epiphany, they could just tape a flashlight to the bulletin board.  Epiphany is about the light of Christ becoming visible.  There was some laughter after my idea (which I expected).  But below the surface is a kernel of truth.  Epiphany is one big flashlight, shining over the head of Jesus, announcing his glory to all of the world.

In thinking about how to encounter Epiphany, I think some wisdom can be garnished from an 80’s movie called “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”  You may remember the movie.  It is about a high senior who skips a day of school to have fun with a couple of friends.  In the movie Bueller addresses the audience and says, “Life Moves pretty fast. You don’t stop to look around once in a while , you could miss it.”  Epiphany is about looking around to see God’s presence in the world!  Don’t miss it!

They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.  They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”  And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching– with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”  At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ our Risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

Jesus is teaching in the synagogue.  What happens?  He encounters someone possessed by a demon.  By an unclean spirit.  “I know who you are.  You are the Holy One of God.”  And what does Jesus do?  He commands the unclean spirit to be silent and come out of the man.  And the people in the synagogue are pretty amazed.  This person, this Jesus has authority over the demonic.  Only God has control over the demonic.  This guy Jesus must have some serious authority.

Demonic possession.  That is what this story from Mark’s gospel is about.  Now… I haven’t done this in a while.  I want you to all turn to a neighbor near you.  It cannot be your spouse.  I want you to turn to your neighbor, and I want you to tell them your thoughts on Demonic possession.  Go and talk.  I will call you back in a couple of minutes.

So, what did you learn?  How comfortable was that conversation?  See, in our modern time, we really do not know what to do with demonic possession.  We rely on horror stories like the story in the movie “The Exorcist,” where the devil actually physically possesses someone and there is levitation, and lots of vomit and cursing, and Catholic Priests, and Holy Water, and Crucifixes.  Well, I believe that is far too simple.  The devil is much smarter than that.  The devil is much smarter than that.

Or there is the time during my hospital chaplaincy I encountered a man who was found unconscious on a random street corner in Chicago.  He was hit with some form of blunt object and left for dead.  In speaking with his dad at the hospital, I learned of this young man’s battle with heroin addiction.  This father was the only family member that would be there with him.  The son had made so many enemies in his family, and done so much damage that neither his mother, sister, or step-mother would come to see him.  Seeing this young man lay in bed recovering from both a major head trauma at the same time he was suffering withdrawal from heroin, I thought to myself, “this young man in possessed.  He has some awful demons.”  Yet, it is not possession like we think it is supposed to be.  It is something much more real and much less imaginary than the movie “The Exorcist.”

The devil is much smarter than that.  I like to give this example.  How many times have you heard the phrase, “Look at the mess we have now.  They took God out of the schools and we cannot even pray.”  Think about that cliché.  They took God out of the schools.  Many I have met just simply believe this.  But think about it.  Do we as humans actually have the ability to control where God will and will not be?  Do we as humans think we can actually deem where God resides?  This is the creator of the universe we are talking about here.  I don’t think we really have that kind of control.  But the devil would trick us into thinking something of this sort.  We are separate from God, and God is not near us.  And who is to blame for this?  Whoever those evil people are that do not allow prayer in schools.  “They took God out of the schools?”  That sounds like a rather devilish assertion to me.

This past week, a pastor colleague of mine, his name is R. Don Wright, he wrote about how the church has become irrelevant.  It is something we are doing to ourselves.  Listen carefully to what he writes… “The church has become irrelevant because those who are well have no need of a physician, and everyone’s fine.  So the church, which ought to be a hospital – the inn where Jesus our Good Samaritan carries us to be treated having been beaten and left for dead by Sin, Death, and the Devil—is converted into an upscale eatery for people who are well.”  I will say that last line again.  “the inn where Jesus our Good Samaritan carries us to be treated having been beaten and left for dead by Sin, Death, and the Devil—is converted into an upscale eatery for people who are well.”

Wow.  Kind of grabs you doesn’t it?  I would only nuance what my colleague says.  It is converted into an upscale eatery for people who think they are well.”  Remember, that devil tricks us.  Perhaps so much into thinking we ourselves don’t have any demons possessing us.

So what is the solution to all of this?  Well… much like I explained to the children.  Jesus is a healer.

I like to tell this story.  It is about a man in a previous congregation.  He hadn’t regularly attended Sunday worship in over 30 years.  When I was there, he would go to worship on Easter and Christmas Eve.  He and his wife had just experienced a tragedy in their family – a daughter of theirs who had a long history of drug abuse died.  Well, one day I stopped by shortly thereafter and it was just me and him.  He talked it out quite a bit and we prayed.  Then I shared communion with him and the most surprising thing had happened.  He was shaking so much, that he barely could get the cup to his mouth to drink the wine.  That is when I realized, “This man is possessed and that demon is now gone.”  Not in the way we think of possession, but he had demons that were haunting him.  Every parent does.

An exorcist.  One who dispels of the unclean.  The healer.  And during Epiphany, we celebrate this facet of Jesus of the light scattering the darkness.   The visual manifestation of Jesus being someone who heals.  Jesus takes away demons.  Jesus casts them out.  That is the good news.  Much like the story I told you of the shaking man.  That wasn’t me casting out a demon.  That was the Son of God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit.

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

There are three pieces of scripture before us this morning.  The first is Psalm 23, which Dana just read.  Psalm 23 tends to be a psalm read at just about every funeral.  It has a reputation for being a death psalm.  If you listen to the words, it is nothing of the sort.  It isn’t a death psalm.  It is a life psalm.  The Lord is my shepherd, I will not need anything.  He leads me to the best pastures and stillest waters.  The psalm is about a Lord who loves us and gives us life.

And life is something that Don Nelson had.  He had a lot of life, almost making it to his 95^th birthday.  Life however, is not something that can be measured in years.  Life is measured in both relationship and connection.  Don had quite a bit of both.

There is a long list of relationship and connection.  He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII.  He was a charter member of Tyler Kiwanis.  He was involved with a number of activities at First English.  He started the Junior Choir.  He worked with the youth.  It actually seems these past few days, that every time I talked to somebody new, they told of something else Don did at First English.

He was a member of the American Legion.  He was connected to other people.  He was in relationship with others.

He was a family man who dearly loved his first wife Margery.  He took great care of her when she was ill.  He was such a family man, that when he married Avis, all of her children and grandchildren weren’t step-children and step-grandchildren, they were children and grandchildren to him.  They became his family.

I think Don’s story of his community and family life are good images of what God does in our lives.  God gives life.  God gave life to Don and everyone who knew him through family, through his community, and through his faith.

I wanted to share my own story about Don.  When I first arrived here at First English, one of the things Don would do every Sunday when he was on his way out of the narthex, is he would shake my hand like normal, and then he would attempt to arm wrestle me.  He would use most of his grip, and it was strong, and he would say something like “see, I still got it!”  I am pretty sure he could still beat me at arm wrestling.  He still did have it.  I want you to keep this image of Don, reaching out to grab your hand in a very strong manner, keep that image in your minds.

I think that kind of strength is a good image for the strength that God has.  We read about this strength in Paul’s 1^st letter to the Corinthians, which Andrea read.  Paul was writing to the church in Corinth that was in deep conflict with each other.  Paul writes, “When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’”

Those are verses reflecting the strength of God.  The strength of God is shown in defeating death.  That image I told you to keep in your mind of Don reaching for your hand to grasp it with his strength?  Well, that is a lot like the strength of God as it is shown in these verses.  Where death is your victory?

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is a teaching letter of Paul.  Paul was correcting some of the teachings of the church at Thessalonica.  Paul was teaching them about death.  “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.”

How fitting was the passage that Lon picked for today.  Just like Don showed his strength with grabbing your arm, God shows his strength by defeating death.  Furthermore, the scripture read for today, it isn’t for Don.  It is for all of us assembled and gathered here – those of us who are mourning our loss.  It is for those of us who need to hear the Gospel.  The good news, that Jesus is our savior.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”  These words are for us.  Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, but also to us.  It is because we have a sure and certain hope in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And finally, there is a verse that Don himself chose that we didn’t read today, but it is on the very front of your bulletin.  From the Revelation of John.  “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”  That verse that Don chose… it shows the strength of God.  Just like Don would reach out his hand… Jesus reaches his hand out to us.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea– for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  These are Jesus’ words to Simon and Andrew.  Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  Really?  Fishing for people?  Who wants to catch a person?  People don’t taste very good, do they?

Now, I want you all to think a little bit.  Put yourself in both Simon and Andrew’s shoes.  Do you just drop everything and go?  By nets, I mean everything.  Really, this was their job and their livelihood.  So, it means everything.  Just quit your job and go follow Jesus?  Well, in Mark’s Gospel and in the others we read about them and they do go.  They follow.  Simon, who is also called Peter is one of the main followers.  Following so much that he makes some mistakes along the way.

Now I will be honest.  I don’t think the Gospel of Mark really includes everything.  Because if someone would have faced this decision, would they have just dropped everything and left?  Well, there was more to it.  I was doing my research this past week and found that not everything was translated in our translation.  There is a lot more to it.

It actually goes more like this…

Jesus said “follow me and I will make you fish for people?”

Andrew said, “Well, we are kind of busy.  Perhaps we can.  I am going to go ask my mom.”
Simon said, “Andrew, we can’t go.  If we don’t get some of these fish to market, our parents will be awfully mad.  Besides, mom is going to have lunch ready in an hour.  Sorry sir.  I am sure you are on a great journey and all, but we can’t help you.”

Andrew then said, “Now wait a minute Simon, just hold on.  You are always trying to boss me around and tell me what to do.  That ends this instant.  We’re going.”

Peter said, “Andrew, I am the older and wise of us both.  You know that.  I know that.  We must take care of our responsibilities.  Besides, lunch is almost ready.”

Andrew said, “Lunch can wait.  I would certainly like to try fishing for people.  It might just pay better than fishing for fish anyways.  I’ll send a message to mom that we won’t be home for lunch because, well, because we dropped our nets in the water.  That’s it.  We dropped our nets in the water and can’t find them.”

Simon said, “We can’t lie to mom.  She was even going to fix my favorite dish today -  fried fish.  Plus, we have no clue who this random stranger even is.  Fish for people?  Really?  Who does he think he is?  If we don’t get some fish to market, dad is going to be real upset.”

Andrew said, “What mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.  We just tell dad that the fishing was lousy.”  Simon and Andrew then began to lob their fists at one another, rolling around in the dirt and fighting.  With them sparring further back and forth about the merits of going along with this man, Jesus began to shake his head in disgust and thought to himself, “what am I doing?”  He then went on his way to leave the two brothers to fight amongst themselves.  And immediately, they left their nets and followed him.

Now, I was just as amazed as all of you to come across this section of the Gospel of Mark, that really gets to the heart of our human condition.  We hold each other back.  That is what we do.  While I could proclaim that our sin in this entire mess is not following, that is far too simple.  Really, I think the sin that we need to address is how fishing for people stinks.  Really.  It can be some awful stuff.

We are now at a time in which anxiety is high.  It is high everywhere and in every institution.  It is in every level of government and every nuclear family.  The sinfulness that is to be addressed is how difficult it is to work with people.  My embellished version of the Gospel shows this clearly.

When I joked about fishing for people not being very good, it is because people don’t always taste very good.    They don’t.  What drives many of us to do the things we do is we want to avoid the people we don’t like.  Or, we hide our opinions, thoughts, and feelings, because we don’t know how to be fully honest with others we disagree with.  To put it much more bluntly and thoroughly, in this gospel passage, we are compared with fish.  And anyone who has ever gone fishing and caught fish, knows that fish smell.

So what is the Gospel?  What is the good news?  It is spelled out for us.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.  The good news is that we have someone fishing for us.  That fisherman is Jesus.  Jesus seeking us out.  Putting up with our stink, and offering to us in the same way… “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  That is the good news.  The good news is that we have Jesus seeking us out, fishing for us.

So how does this relate to Epiphany?  Epiphany being the discovery of God being made manifest in the world?  Epiphany being the light bulb that turns on?  Jesus being the light that scatters the darkness?  It is the proclamation.  It is shown in how Simon and Andrew drop everything to follow Jesus, knowing that this is God coming into our world.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.  Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”  And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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Grace to you peace, from God our Creator, and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, the one whom we have been given the gift of following, Amen.

Jesus finds Phillip in Galilee.  And we don’t hear how he found him, just where.  And that is all.  Jesus finding Phillip though doesn’t seem to be the main character of this story from John’s Gospel.  Nathanial seems to be the focal point of this lesson.  And Phillip went and found Nathanial.  Phillip told him “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  “Nathanial, this is the guy who is going to save us… they person that was written about in the Pentateuch, and all over the Hebrew Scriptures.  The one that will save all of Israel from Rome.”

And what is Nathanial’s answer?  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  “Can anything good come of that rotten place?”  Apparently Nathanial didn’t like Nazareth too much.  Nor could a messiah come from there.

But Philip is a good friend to Nathanial, and won’t let him get away with much.  “Come and See.”  “Come and See.”  Come and see this guy, and then you will believe it for yourself.

Now, this is an Epiphany story.  This is a story about God being made manifest in the world.  It is a story about the light bulb being turned on.  How is this Epiphany and light bulb story?  Jesus is discovered and seen as the King of Israel.

“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.  Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

Philip said to Nathanial, “come and see.”  Nathanial came and saw… and hence, Epiphany.

A light bulb.  That is Epiphany.  Much like opening line of our liturgy this morning… “Let the light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.”

I am currently reading a book called “Shadow Divers.”  It chronicles the true story of two deep water shipwreck divers.  These are scuba divers who dive shipwrecks at about 200 feet below the surface.  Diving that far below is very perilous.  It has lead to a lot of deaths.  When you are that far below, with that amount of pressure, your body suffers from too much nitrogen which ends up having effects on your mind, making you behave as if you were drunk.

Anyhow, these deep sea divers discovered a boat off the coast of New Jersey, and they didn’t know what it was.  Through a series of dives they discovered it was a German U-Boat from WWII.  They had to do a little more work, but they ended up discovering it was U-869.  They had found a knife with the captain’s name on it.  This is how they found the specific boat that it was.

Finding which exact boat it was is difficult.  It was especially difficult because 200 feet below the surface of the water is extremely dark.  Imagine it to be like night without any lights.  The only light they had was the light they brought with.  In a way, this story paints an image of the Epiphany story.

They went and saw.  They discovered.

Now, we are not so inclined to always think this way.  We are not always so inclined to think there is always a light bulb.  We are kind of in the dark.  At least, as Lutherans, this is what we maintain.  Every time we “confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves” we are proclaiming ourselves as being in the dark.

Now, we are in the dark.  One of my favorite stories to tell about the dark comes from my childhood.  I know most of the dads here will be able to relate.  When I was a kid, one of my favorite toys was Legos.  I loved them.  I had a bunch of them.  They were scattered and spread all over the house.  Legos are small and they have sharp edges.  My dad couldn’t stand Legos.  See, in the dark when it was night, if he tried to navigate the house he would ultimately step on a Lego.  The sharp small object would gouge into his foot because of the lack of light.

Well, while we are indeed in the dark, there is Gospel.  There is good news.  Much like our liturgy today reads “Let he light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.”  The good news is the light.  Much like I explained to the children earlier – Christ being like a candle or a light bulb.  Christ is the light… the light being made manifest in the world.  With Christ, we are not in the dark.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.